


To Think that I Saw It

by tisfan



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Bittersweet Ending, Gen, Imaginary Friends, Past Character Death, Robotics, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 21:09:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19876126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tisfan/pseuds/tisfan
Summary: Morgan needs to build a robot to dig for treasure while she keeps a look-out for bears.And who is the best person to help her with that task?This fic is for dracusfyre's "Mod Fill" prize square A2 - Unreliable Narrator





	To Think that I Saw It

**Author's Note:**

  * For [dracusfyre](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dracusfyre/gifts).



> Remember when I said I'd tag things if they were sad.
> 
> I'm tagging it. It's sad.  
> To Think That I Saw It -- Title from a Dr. Seuss book "To think that I saw it on mulberry street" which is about kids and imagination

****“Dad!”

“What?” 

“I needa ask-u-ator,” Morgan told him. She liked Dad, he was tall and he was fun, and he was usually dirtier than Morgan was, which meant Mommy was always telling him to wash up and not noticing Morgan’s dirty hands.

As much.

Sometimes. Ok, so really not very often, but sometimes.

Well, not so much anymore. Morgan couldn’t decide if that was because she was just dirtier than she used to be, or that Mommy was noticing more.

“And what do you need that for, Morguna?” Dad came across the workroom where she was digging through a pile of robot scrap parts. Mommy called it junk. Dad called it “one man’s treasure box.”

“I need a robot to dig for lost treasure,” Morgan said. She picked up a scoop, eyeballed it. It was a little bigger than what she needed, but it would probably be okay. If the robot didn’t flip itself over when it tried to scoop.

“Are you missing some treasure I didn’t know about?”

“The bear took the treasure,” Morgan told him. He really should already know that, wasn’t he paying attention while Mrs. Snyder at the library was reading? 

“The bear did?” Dad sat back on his heels. “Was it a big bear?”

“I don’t know,” Morgan said. “How big is a little bear?”

“Somewhat larger than a fox, a bit smaller than an elephant,” Dad said, which really wasn’t useful. 

“It was bigger than me,” Morgan said. “About the same size as Uncle Happy.” That seemed pretty big to her. Taller than Dad. Taller than Mommy, even when she was wearing “those shoes.”

“And you saw this bear? Where was that?”

“Onna way home,” Morgan said. “And it took my treasure.”

“And buried it. Where, exactly? In the woods? Might just need a shovel, not a robot,” Dad said. He nodded at a chain and gear assembly. “Try that, though, might be just what we need.”

“I need a robot,” Morgan insisted. “I hafta keep an eye out for the bear. I can’t do that an’ dig at the same time.”

“There’s an adjustable wrench on the table over, yeah, you got it, kiddo. So, we’re building a digging robot. That might be useful. Mom could use it for her garden.”

“It’s for finding treasure,” Morgan insisted.

“All right, we can do that, then,” Dad said. He sat cross-legged. “How far down do you think the bear buried the treasure? Write that down, that’s at least how long the digging assembly needs to be.”

Morgan nodded. She pulled out her tablet and started on the schematic. Dad liked schematics, figuring out all the math and the specifications before they sent anything on to the fabricators. Much easier to change the design than to fix an actual thing.

Measure twice, cut once.

Morgan lost herself in the buzz of creation.

***

“Morgan, dinner,” Mommy said down the stairs. “Don’t forget to wash your hands before you come upstairs.”

Morgan looked up from her project and wiped her hands on her pants, leaving a smear behind. “I’m not that dirty,” she said.

“Of course you’re not,” Mommy said. “Wash up anyway.”

Morgan sighed, put the wrench down, closed up her tablet’s program. The robot was only half finished, but it would have to wait. Mommy liked her to show up promptly at dinner time.

“Are you coming up to dinner?” Morgan asked.

“Nah,” Dad said. He stood up and stretched. “I think I’ll stay here for a while.”

“M’kay,” Morgan said. She washed her hands, finger combed her hair. Patted the incomplete robot. Went up the stairs, turned off the light. Mommy liked it when she turned off the lights without being asked.

“So, what are you doing down there all day?” Mommy asked, cutting out a piece of lasagna and putting it on her plate. Added a spoonful of vegetables (yuck) and a little bit of applesauce. A slice of bread, and poured a glass of milk.

“Daddy and I are building a robot to look for treasure,” she told her mom.

Mommy paused a moment before putting the glass of milk down on the table. “Oh, are you? That must be exciting. What sort of treasure?”

Morgan told Mommy all about the robot, and the bear, and the treasure. 

“All right, honey,” Mommy finally said. “Go on up and start your bath, I want to make some phone calls.”

Morgan noticed that Mommy was smiling _that way_ again. She went upstairs, but then crept back down to listen.

“--I don’t know what to do,” Mommy was saying. “She keeps telling me that Tony’s in the basement, helping her build robots. We buried him _three months ago_. I don’t know how to keep doing this--”

Morgan puffed out a breath. Mommy just didn’t understand. 

Maybe… maybe one day, she could bring Mommy down into the basement, and she would understand then.

Dad… Dad had never left.  


**Author's Note:**

> the ending is marked as ambiguous because I'm not sure if Tony is a ghost or imaginary or an AI. you can decide that, whatever makes you happiest.


End file.
